Cain Accuser Says She Didn't Want Controversy : The Two-WayKaren Kraushaar hoped details of her harassment claim would stay secret. She didn't want controversy. Meanwhile, the AP has details of a complaint she filed against another employer. And a Cain aide falsely claimed Kraushaar's son works for Politico.

Cain Accuser Says She Didn't Want Controversy

Cain accuser and longtime government employee Karen Kraushaar once worked as a spokesperson for the Immigration and Naturalization Service. She offered a statement after meeting with the Miami family of Elian Gonzalez in March of 2000.
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Cain accuser and longtime government employee Karen Kraushaar once worked as a spokesperson for the Immigration and Naturalization Service. She offered a statement after meeting with the Miami family of Elian Gonzalez in March of 2000.

Miami Herald/Getty Images

A few of the developments since our last post about the sexual harassment allegations against Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain — who calls them "false, anonymous, incorrect accusations":

— Karen Kraushaar, the long-time federal employee and registered Republican whose identity became known Tuesday, says she did not want her case against Cain to go public. Kraushaar complained about Cain's behavior in the late 1990s when he headed the National Restaurant Association and she worked for the organization. The association eventually reached a cash settlement with her and Kraushaar left in 1999.

"I wanted to have a clean record and just get out of there," she told NPR's Liz Halloran. "When this happens to you, you're in a weakened state, a vulnerable state. ... You've got to get a new job and get to a safe place."

"I thought I had achieved that."

— The Associated Press reports that three years after her departure from the restaurant association, Kraushaar complained about unfair treatment at the Immigration and Naturalization Service, where she then worked. The issues: Kraushaar wanted to "be allowed to work from home after a serious car accident," AP says, and she accused a manager "of circulating a sexually charged email."

According to the wire service:

"To settle the complaint at the immigration service, Kraushaar initially demanded thousands of dollars in payment, a reinstatement of leave she used after the accident earlier in 2002, promotion on the federal pay scale and a one-year fellowship to Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, according to a former supervisor familiar with the complaint. The promotion itself would have increased her annual salary between $12,000 and $16,000, according to salary tables in 2002 from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

"Kraushaar told the AP she considered her employment complaint 'relatively minor' and she later dropped it."

— On Fox News Channel's Hannity last night, Cain campaign chief of staff Mark Block said he had confirmed that Kraushaar's son works for Politico, the news outlet that broke the news on Oct. 31 that two women who worked for the restaurant association in the late '90s had accused Cain of sexual harassment.

But Josh Kraushaar, who left Politico a year ago and is now executive editor of National Journal's The Hotline, is "not related to Karen Kraushaar at all," as he tweeted Tuesday. He had also posted before Hannity went on the air that "if anyone was wondering, I am NOT related to Karen Kraushaar, the woman who accused Herman Cain of sexual harassment. Strange coincidence."

Cain campaign spokesman J.D. Gordon sent NPR's Halloran an email early today saying that "based upon information available at the time of Mr. Block's Tuesday night interview on Fox News, the campaign was led to believe that Mr. Josh Kraushaar, currently with the National Journal and a former employee of Politico, was the son of Karen Kraushaar. Mr. Josh Kraushaar is in fact, not related to Ms. Karen Kraushaar."

— Karen Kraushaar has suggested,Politico says, that "she would like to band together with the other three women accusing Cain of harassment. 'That would be my preference, that we all go together in a joint press conference,' she said, noting that she's turned down interview requests from a number of TV news shows."